Inside Baseball

In the Line of Fire  

The Cubs' Don Baylor was the latest to go down in a tough season for managers

By Stephen Cannella

Who could blame White Sox manager Jerry Manuel if his skin began to crawl last week? On Friday his crosstown counterpart, Don Baylor, was fired by the Cubs. The next day Manuel, whose team was picked by many to win the American League Central but stumbled to a 42-46 record in the first half, received the dreaded vote of confidence from general manager Ken Williams -- one that sounded a lot like the statement Andy MacPhail made in support of his manager seven weeks before Baylor was sacked. "The success of the manager is largely based on the production of the players, and the players have not performed to their capabilities," Williams said. "I have not wavered in my confidence [in] Jerry and his staff."

Despite the Cubs' 88-74 record in 2001, Baylor took the fall for the team's 34-49 start this year. Charles Bennett

These days it doesn't take much more than a three-game losing streak to make the manager of a sub-.500 club worry about his job security. Baylor was the sixth skipper to be axed this season (seventh if you count Boston's Joe Kerrigan, who was replaced by Grady Little during spring training). The knocks against Baylor were the usual ones: an inability to communicate with his players, the perception that the team was underachieving and the need for a new direction.

Will the change spark the Cubs, who went into the All-Star break in fifth place in the NL Central, 12 1/2 games behind the Cardinals? Probably not. After Buddy Bell was fired as Colorado's manager in April, the Rockies won 24 of their first 34 games under new skipper Clint Hurdle, then went 12-20 heading into the All-Star break. The Brewers, 3-12 when Davey Lopes was fired in April, won their first four under Jerry Royster, then went 26-43.

If new managers make so little difference in the standings, why make the change? "The basic [criterion] for changing a manager is simple: when the talent on the field does not equal the amount of victories in the standings," says MacPhail, who also stepped aside as G.M. in favor of assistant Jim Hendry but remains the team's president and CEO.

Firing the manager is the easiest way to start overhauling a team, but it is also a signal to players that the front office is ready to make other changes down the line. Does bringing in a new manager midyear make players play harder the rest of the season? "I don't think so," says Expos first baseman Andres Galarraga. "But it's a wake-up call for everybody."

Issue date: July 15, 2002

For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, July 10. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

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